fiction/non/fiction

In this week’s episode of Fiction/Non/Fiction, co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan are joined by acclaimed writer Gish Jen and novelist Peter Ho Davies to reflect on recent and historic violence against Asian Americans. First, Jen reads her recent New York Times op-ed about the generational differences in how Asian Americans see anti-Asian racism. She also imagines a way forward, explaining that we need to elevate and recognize stories of trauma as well as strength in Asian American experiences. Then, Davies talks about Asian representation in literature and films, and reads from his novel The Fortunes, and its section about the tragic 1982 murder of Vincent Chin, which prompted major shifts in Asian American political organizing. Davies also discusses his latest book, A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself.To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. And check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction’s YouTube Channel.This podcast is produced by Andrea Tudhope.Selected readings:Gish Jen “The Generational Split in How Asian-Americans See the Atlanta Shootings,” New York Times The Resisters The Girl at The Baggage Claim Tiger Writing World and Town The Love Wife Who’s Irish? Mona In The Promised Land Typical American  Peter Ho Davies A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself The Fortunes The Welsh Girl Equal Love The Ugliest House in the World Others: “Covering the Atlanta massacre from inside the Korean community,” by Shinhee Kang, Columbia Journalism Review “Jay Leno Apologizes for Years of Anti-Asian Jokes,” by Daniel Victor, New York Times Media Action Network for Asian Americans Miss Saigon by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil Madame Butterfly by Puccini M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang Passing by Nella Larsen Terrific Mother by Lorrie Moore Rising Sun, film by Philip Kaufman The Karate Kid, film by Robert Mark Kamen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, film by Steven Spielberg  The Duke of Deception by Geoffrey Wolff The Great Santini by Pat Conroy “Adam Purinton Pleads Guilty In Olathe Bar Shooting, Still Faces Federal Hate Crime Charges,” by Andrea Tudhope, KCUR  Kundiman Asian American Writers' Workshop – The Margins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s episode of Fiction/Non/Fiction, co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan are joined by award-winning author and journalist Meredith Talusan and acclaimed writer Matt Gallagher. Talusan reads from her memoir Fairest, and talks about representation in literature, the intersections of their identity as an Asian and transgender woman, and why transphobia is a recurring theme in conversations about problematic faves. Then, Gallagher shares his take on “cancelling” problematic authors, and discusses his recent Intercept article about the new film Cherry, which is adapted from Nico Walker’s autobiographical novel. In the piece, Gallagher parses ethical storytelling and how the American romanticization of crime can depend on the perpetrator’s identity. He also reads from his most recent novel, Empire City.To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. And check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction’s YouTube Channel.This podcast is produced by Andrea Tudhope.Selected readings:Meredith Talusan Fairest: A Memoir Them Opinion | On Being a Trans Woman, and Giving Up Makeup Unflinching Honesty: An Interview with Meredith Talusan   Matt Gallagher Empire City: A Novel “Cherry” and Hollywood's Treatment of Robbers and Victims Youngblood: A Novel Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War Others: A Letter on Justice and Open Debate, Harper’s Magazine Artists and Writers Warn of an ‘Intolerant Climate.’ Reaction Is Swift. by Jennifer Schuessler and Elizabeth A. Harris, New York Times She Pulled Her Debut Book When Critics Found It Racist. Now She Plans to Publish. by Alexandra Alter, New York Times How British Feminism Became Anti-Trans by Sophie Lewis, New York Times  Francis Hodgson Burnett Roald Dahl Ezra Pound Enid Blyton Another Country by James Baldwin The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' by Chinua Achebe “On Stalin” by W.E.B. Du Bois The Woman Warrior: A Memoir of Girlhood Amongst Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston The Mikado by W.S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan Miss Saigon by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil Madame Butterfly by Puccini M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang Cathy Park Hong Julie Otsuka The Lover by Marguerite Duras Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl Perspective | So you’re being held accountable? That’s not ‘cancel culture.’ by Margaret Sullivan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s episode of Fiction/Non/Fiction, co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan are joined by author Lacy M. Johnson and novelist Natalia Sylvester. First, Johnson recalls her personal experience through the recent storm, and talks about the ongoing debate over deregulation and privatization of the Texas energy grid. Then, Sylvester unravels the whitewashed, exceptionalist myth of Texas, elevates its Mexican, Black and Indigenous history, and talks about what it means for her, a Latinx, Peruvian immigrant woman, to be a “Texas writer.” Johnson reads from the forthcoming edited volume, More City Than Water: A Houston Flood Atlas; Sylvester reads from her new YA novel, Running.To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. And check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction’s YouTube Channel.This podcast is produced by Andrea Tudhope.Selected readings:Lacy M. Johnson More City Than Water: A Houston Flood Atlas (forthcoming, University of Texas Press) The Reckonings: Essays The Other Side: A Memoir Trespasses: A Memoir  Natalia Sylvester Running Everyone Knows You Go Home Chasing the Sun Others: 2666 by Roberto Bolaño Cite Design Alliance  Cormac McCarthy Dear Twin by Addie Tsai Donald Barthelme Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room Documentary ERCOT "‘Frozen Windmills’ aren’t to blame for Texas’s power failure" by Salvador Rizzo "Houston is a cheap place to live - if you don’t count the trauma tax" by Raj Mankad How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang James A. Michener Katherine Anne Porter Lonesome Dove: A Novel by Larry McMurtry Lot and Memorial by Bryan Washington  Necropolitics by Achille Mbembe Outlawed by Anna North "Perry says Texans willing to suffer blackouts to keep feds out of power market" by James Osborne Public Utilities Commission of Texas Memo Red Salmon Arts by Raúl Salinas Refusing To Forget Project by Benjamin Johnson, John Morán Gonzalez, and Sonia Hernández Tarfia Faizullah "Texas Won’t Reduce $16 Billion In Electricity Charges From Winter Storm" by Matthew S. Schwartz The Great American Bubble Machine by Matt Taibbi The President’s Daughter by Ellen Emerson White The Shock Doctrine The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein  The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind Treme   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s episode of Fiction/Non/Fiction, co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan are joined by author, medical doctor, and Africa Center CEO Uzodinma Iweala and Delhi-based journalists Bindu Shajan Perappadan and Suhasini Raj. First, Iweala unpacks flawed stereotypes about health and healthcare in Africa. Reading from his book, Our Kind of People, Iweala draws parallels between the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic, and discusses how certain African countries, including Nigeria and Tanzania, have fared over the past year. Then Perappadan of The Hindu and Raj of The New York Times talk about their coronavirus coverage, and explain how past crises have influenced the response to COVID-19 in different Indian states. To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. And check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction’s YouTube Channel.This podcast is produced by Andrea Tudhope.Selected readings:Uzodinma Iweala Our Kind of People Beasts of No Nation Speak No Evil Bindu Shajan Perappadan“Online Memorial to COVID-19 Victims Going Live on January 30,” The Hindu Suhasini Raj “The Virus Trains: How Lockdown Chaos Spread Covid-19 Across India” by Jeffrey Gettleman, Suhasini Raj, Sameer Yasir and Karan Deep Singh, with photographs by Atul Loke, New York Times “I Covered Coronavirus Victims. Then My Family Members Became Victims, Too.” New York Times  Others: Crisis in the Red Zone by Richard Preston The Hot Zone by Richard Preston The Farewell (film) by Lulu Wang “The coming of age of the Africa Centers for Disease Control” by Aloysius Uche Ordu, Brookings “Africa’s COVID-19 Denialist-in-Chief” by Lynsey Chutel, Foreign Policy National Covid Memorial    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s episode of Fiction/Non/Fiction, co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan are joined by award-winning author Chang-rae Lee. Lee talks about the varied cast of characters in his new novel, My Year Abroad, writing about sensory and social experiences, and how he dove into his own growing feelings of isolation through the Trump administration and then the pandemic. To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. And check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction’s YouTube Channel.This podcast is produced by Andrea Tudhope.Selected readings:Chang-rae Lee My Year Abroad On Such A Full Sea The Surrendered  Native Speaker A Gesture Life  Others: The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow “The Little Man at Chehaw Station” by Ralph Ellison   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s episode of Fiction/Non/Fiction, co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan are joined by former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith and novelist Kawai Strong Washburn, who talk about what the Biden administration owes the BIPOC and women voters who got them elected. First, Smith discusses building bridges as a nation, and shares excerpts of her award-winning collection, Wade in the Water. Then, Hawaii-born Washburn talks about the power of community organizing, and reads from his acclaimed debut, Sharks in the Time of Saviors.To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. And check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction’s YouTube Channel.This podcast is produced by Andrea Tudhope.Selected readings:Tracy K. Smith The Cancer Journals Life On Mars: Poems Wade In The Water: Poems American Journal: Fifty Poems For Our Time Ordinary Light: A Memoir Duende: Poems “Poet Tracy K. Smith Pays Tribute to Kamala Harris,” Vogue Kawai Strong Washburn Sharks in the Time of Saviors “What the Ocean Eats,” McSweeney’s  Others: “Biden's First 100 Days: Here's What To Expect” by Elena Moore, NPR America Amplified: Election 2020, a six-episode national talk show from the CPB public media initiative America Amplified “Portraits of Reconciliation: 20 years after the genocide in Rwanda, reconciliation still happens one encounter at a time,” by Pieter Hugo and Susan Dominus, New York Times “Kama'āina: Kawai Strong Washburn Interviewed by Kathryn Savage,” BOMB Magazine Malcolm X Biography Senator Ted Cruz on Twitter: "By rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, President Biden indicates he's more interested in the views of the citizens of Paris than in the jobs of the citizens of Pittsburgh. This agreement will do little to affect the climate and will harm the livelihoods of Americans." “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare” by Nathaniel Rich, The New York Times Sunday Magazine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s episode of Fiction/Non/Fiction, co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan are joined by author Jenny Offill and literary and film critic James Plath. First Offill shares her reaction to the insurrection and attempted coup at the Capitol last week, and discusses her latest novel, Weather, out in paperback next week. Then, Plath explores the origins of conspiracy theories in history and literature and how right-wing extremists have weaponized them under Trump, and talks about editing Critical Insights: Conspiracies. To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. And check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction’s YouTube Channel.This podcast is produced by Andrea Tudhope.Selected readings:Jenny Offill Weather Last Things Dept. of Speculation James Plath Critical Insights: Conspiracies “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conspiracy”  Others: “The American Abyss,” by Timothy Snyder, The New York Times Magazine On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder Hannah Arendt The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood Three Days of the Condor (film) by Sydney Pollack  Utopia (TV series) by Gillian Flynn “Stop Making Sense, or How to Write in the Age of Trump” by Aleksandar Hemon, The Village Voice “Jenny Offill: 'I don't miss the world as much as, perhaps, I should'” by Alex Preston, The Guardian JFK (film) by Oliver Stone Libra by Don DeLillo Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon V (TV series)  Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison “The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories” by Brielle A. Marino, Psychology Today Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison “The Hull Case” by Peter Ho Davies “Teen Names Family Who Harassed A Black Woman On Video,” Buzzfeed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s episode of Fiction/Non/Fiction, co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan are joined by novelist and essayist Claire Messud and journalist Brendan O’Meara. First, Messud discusses her new book of essays, Kant’s Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write, and the difficulties of grasping the facts when we’re bombarded with so much information daily. Then, O’Meara shares craft insights from his interviews for The Creative Nonfiction podcast and discusses the connections between newsrooms and literary nonfiction. He also previews his memoir-in-progress about his father.To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. And check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction’s YouTube Channel.This podcast is produced by Andrea Tudhope.Selected readings:Claire Messud Kant’s Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write The Emperor’s Children The Burning Girl When the World Was Steady The Woman Upstairs The Hunters The Last Life Brendan O’Meara Six Weeks in Saratoga: How Three-Year-Old Filly Rachel Alexandra Beat the Boys and Became Horse of the Year The Creative Nonfiction Podcast Episode 60—The Godfather of Creative Nonfiction: Lee Gutkind Episode 99—David Grann on 'The Killers of the Flower Moon' and Why Every Story is a Struggle Episode 121—Susan Orlean on Pacing, Structure, and 'The Library Book' Episode 227: The Futility of Reassurance and Being on the Hook with Seth Godin “Isolation,” audio magazine  Others: Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio The Plague by Albert Camus War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Selected Writings of Paul Valéry Continental Drift by Russell Banks NW by Zadie Smith Another Country by James Baldwin The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald The Company You Keep by Neil Gordon Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates Bronwen Dickey David Carr Sisters in Hate by Seyward Darby The Living and the Dead: War, Friendship and the Battles That Never End by Brian Mockenhaupt The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm The Heart and Other Monsters by Rose Andersen Jean Guerrero “Host of ‘The Daily’ Clouds ‘N.Y. Times’ Effort To Restore Trust After ‘Caliphate’” by David Folkenflik, NPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special live episode of Fiction/Non/Fiction, presented by Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis, acclaimed novelist and teacher Charles Baxter and his former student, short story writer Mike Alberti, join co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss their new books. Upon the release of his seventeenth book, the much-anticipated The Sun Collective, Baxter reflects on how time and place factor into his work and talks about writing about politics in his hometown. Then Alberti discusses his searing debut short story collection Some People Let You Down, and how he finds inspiration and hope in teaching incarcerated writers through the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. The two also provide a rare window into their ongoing conversations about teaching and the craft of fiction, and answer questions from audience members and readers, including incarcerated writers. To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. And check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction’s YouTube Channel.This podcast is produced by Andrea Tudhope.Selected readings:Charles Baxter: The Sun Collective The Feast of Love First Light Saul and Patsy Shadow Play The Soul Thief Believers Gryphon Harmony of the World A Relative Stranger There’s Something I Want You to Do Through the Safety Net Mike Alberti: “Summer People,” Colorado Review “Woods, Kansas,” Crazyhorse “Destiny,” Gulf Coast “Pestilence,” Indiana Review “Prairie Fire, 1899,” One Story Some People Let You Down  Others: Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop Dubliners, James Joyce Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson Lost in the City, Edward P. Jones Wright Morris George Ault, American painter Annie, Broadway musical The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand Cornel West Alice Munro ZZ Packer Denis Johnson   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s episode of Fiction/Non/Fiction, co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan mark the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act by talking to two writers who have made important contributions to the way we talk about disability in America. First, poet and essayist Molly McCully Brown discusses her new essay collection Places I’ve Taken my Body, and reflects on the threat a global pandemic poses to populations who are already seen by society as less valuable. Then Rebekah Taussig talks about her memoir Sitting Pretty, as well as pervasive and tired ableist tropes in films and literature.To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. And check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction’s YouTube Channel.This episode was produced by Mary Henn, Emily Standlee, and Andrea Tudhope.Selected readings:Molly McCully Brown Places I’ve Taken my Body The Virginia State Colony For Epileptics and Feebleminded In The Field Between Us On Books and Their Harbors Rebekah Taussig Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body “I've Been Paralyzed Since I Was 3. Here's Why Kindness Toward Disabled People Is More Complicated Than You Think,” Time “I Called Mine Beautiful,” The Florida Review  Others: If You Really Love Me Throw Me off the Mountain, by Erin Clark “10 Body Positive Instagrammers With Disabilities You Should Follow Immediately” by Nina Matti, Bustle Special, Netflix series “Sia’s Trailer For ‘Music’ Struck A Nerve With The Disabled Community. Her Tweets Only Made Things Worse.” By Allison Norlian, Forbes The Golden Girls, TV series “Texas Lt. Governor: Old People Should Volunteer to Die to Save the Economy” by Bess Levin, Vanity Fair Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices